Busan Receding

The city of Busan and south coast of the Republic of Korea slowly sink into the horizon aft of our underway vessel. For the past 16 days this busy Asian port has been our home away from our home away from home. Twice a year we support a major U.S. alliance by coming to the land of kim chee and Hyundai for game playing and networking with our ROK counterparts. Although I will not miss the constant northwestrly bitter wind that stifled a planned Saturday bike ride, I do take away fond memories and a deeper appreciation for the people of this country.


Similar to their neighbors to the east - with whom they have been sometimes enemies and now friends - these ROKs, as we call them, are hard working and industrious. One needs simply to sojourn about in Busan (or Seoul, which I was privileged to visit last fall) to recognize a nation of relative prosperity and brisk economic growth; home to a resilient people who truly relish their lives and freely share with foreigners. They are every bit as friendly as our Japanese allies, but with fewer of the cultural formalities of that society. I find this interchange always delightful, albeit frequently awkward when ROKs struggle to communicate in our language; a necessary burden since so few Americans ever attempt to learn Hangul. Anxious to facilitate the dialogue, I often embarrass myself with an occasional "hai" or "sumimasen," which my ROK friends politely ignore.


Being a committed foodie (as at least two thirds of my regular blog followers will attest), I am fascinated by Korean cuisine. I used to think that Korean barbecue was a single genre, a notion as naive as proclaiming only one style of American barbecue. Not that I have sampled the Korean varieties to any great extent. This was a working port visit, not heavy on liberty calls. But the different offerings that I did sample were pleasantly different and each delectable in its own subtle blend of texture, taste, spices, and abundant side dishes. The same is true of kim chee, of which I have grown quite fond. Korea has as many different styles of kim chee as Heinz has pickles. (I know, trite expression...) It is all good. The spicier the better.


I depart Busan with two lasting memories of my ROKN medical counterparts, at opposite ends of the two-week spectrum. The first occurred on the day of arrival, when we held our inaugural "staff talks" (term of art) with the ROK Navy medical leadership. The discussions were groundbreaking in the level of mutual sharing and understanding of each other's capabilities. Much more meaningful was the enthusiasm and camaraderie with which we approached these talks, and our shared delight at discovering similarities of purpose and process. Most satisfying was the abundant hospitality shown to us by our hosts, most of whom had traveled by train for a fair distance in the early morning, just to meet and greet.


An even deeper impression occurred, however, near the end of the fortnight, during the "Victory Party" between the two navies, hosted on our main deck. After due ceremony, complementary speeches, and random interactions with our ROK guests - made difficult by the language issue - I was well ready to go below out of that cold NW wind. I was stopped by a young ROKN lieutenant, which rank I had only recently learned to associate with the two diamonds on his uniform's collar device.


"You are Fleet Surgeon," he said in enthusiastic if not fluent English. "Do you remember me?"


Years of leadership training prompted my, "Of course I do," verbal reply while my mind vigorously searched its overloaded cerebral hard drive for the corresponding memory bytes. Fortunately, it clicked right in, "You are from the medical department on DOKDO. We met here in Busan last summer." The young man was so delighted at the recognition that he almost swooned. I cannot tell you his name, even now, but that is strictly a linguistic thing. We then had a wonderful conversation about our mutual interests and opportunities to collaborate during the next exercise.

I promised to host  our mutual medical staffs to Korean barbecue and kim chee the next time we're in port. Hopefully the ROK lieutenant will consider that a treat. I know I will. Because as he and my own staff lieutenants continue the interaction, I will sit back to enjoy my kim chee and barbecue, fully confident that the relationships we started during this trip really will endure to the next generation of leaders.